The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
5 November 2009
Prime Minister Mr Mizengo Pinda has told the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) to go to court if the party sincerely believes that the decision by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to destroy obsolete voter registration cards was against the law.
He made the remark when responding to a question from the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, Mr Hamad Rashid Mohammed (Wawi-CUF), who reminded the Prime Minister of a question he asked earlier about the Government's statement on the NEC move.
Mr Pinda pleaded with Mr Mohammed for more time so that he could seek more precise information. "I think I have given the Prime Minister enough time and he should tell the nation what the government thinks of the decision by NEC to arbitrarily destroying these sensitive documents," posed Mr Mohammed.
In is answer during the Prime Minister's Questions session, Mr Pinda said it was true that he had asked for more time and that he had managed to gather information which indicated that the exercise was conducted in accordance with the law.
He said the law allowed NEC to destroy voter registration cards whose holders had either died or moved from places where they were initially registered.
"By 2007/08, following the exercise to improve the Permanent Voters Register, nearly 800,000 cards were collected from voters who had shifted from one place to another. An additional 70,000 cards were collected from those who had died," Mr Pinda Said.
He noted that according to the law, these cards are not supposed to be used again and they should be destroyed and that was what NEC did. He said at Chang'ombe area in Dar es Salaam, where the cards were destroyed, the Government had many offices including the office housing the department which handled the Permanent Voter Register.
"So the commission decided to destroy the cards at the area where it has its offices it was a normal procedure which did not merit any intervention," he said.
But Mr Mohammed was not satisfied with Mr Pinda's explanation, and rose for a supplementary question, saying some of the cards which the opposition party leaders retrieved from the heap of cards which were being burnt belonged to people who were still alive.
He then asked the Government to appoint a select committee that would come up with an independent report that would establish exactly what happened.
But Mr Pinda said this was uncalled for as the exercise, according to the Government's observation, was legal.
"Under normal circumstances, no political leaders are supposed to be at the area where voter cards are being destroyed. The fact that leaders of the opposition party were there when the cards were being destroyed tells us there was something sinister," he said adding:
"In this situation where a political party has been bickering with the Government on the authenticity of the exercise, we might argue for the whole day and I will not agree with you Honourable Hamad. I would then advise you that if you are truly aggrieved with what happened, you should go to court with your evidence and we, as the Government, will come to defend ourselves."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
